Officials with the Boulder Valley School District still hope they can keep on track building and opening a new K-8 school in Erie by fall 2017 — though superintendent Bruce Messinger acknowledges time is running out.

District officials met with officials from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Monday to figure out how to move ahead with construction on a parcel southeast of Erie Parkway and U.S. 287 that is close to a potential oil and gas drilling site.

Increased drilling setback rules that went into effect statewide in 2013 made most of the site off-limits to a school though it is grandfathered in under the old, less strict, setback distances.

Messinger said the district is talking with state health experts about whether locating a school within the 1,000-foot setback of an oil and gas operation — especially one with no storage units on site — would actually pose a danger to those attending and working at the school.